Hi all. have reached queensland but now Im confused. I though it was free camping up here but apparently not? There is a charge and a booking system for parks? Cheers
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'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated' - Gandhi
I'm afraid so didi... there are a few free camps as well as the ever reliable rest stops, but National Parks in Qld generally cost $5.75 per head per night. There is a token system at least, where you can prepay X amount so you don't have to pay individual fees. So for self registration sites, you can just rock up. You still need to book for sites that require it though.
The good thing, in southern Q at least, is that there a lot of rest stops that are on sections of the old hwy around towns that have been bypassed, so you don't get as much traffic noise.
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Cheers, Steve.
"Any day above ground is a good day... unless you're a spelunker :)"
Yes I am from Queensland and at present in northern Victoria and I can't believe how many free camps and Rest area there are south of the Queensland border and at the moment not many using them , You just have to take at look at the Camps book to see all the entries for Victoria and New South Wales compared with Queensland and Queensland is a much bigger state. We are doing the reverse to everyone else going south from Queensland and the southerns are all going north to the weather gods .
We stay away from QLD in the cooler months of the year, too crowded & very few low cost/free camps available. Luckily we did most of it back in the 70's & 80's.
Lots of great empty low cost/free camps available in VIC & NSW for those who don't mind putting a jumper on & aren't Sun worshippers. Come to think of it, the weather in QLD has been a bit ordinary this year. LOL
Definitely too many heading up there at this time of the year & numbers growing annually. Lots of free camps being closed down too. Unfortunately things can only get worse in the future as more recent retirees hit the road in huge numbers.
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Cheers Desert Dweller.
Our land abounds in Natures gifts. Of beauty rich and rare.
I'm in Qld at the moment, from Vic. I very rarely pay for camps around Qld. Just spent a week at Bedford Weir, Free. Heading off to Theresa Creek, $10 a night.
Wuruma Dam, free.
They are every where, free or $10 or under.
I agree with happywanderer - plenty of places usually filling with Mexicans this time of the year. Remember it's a big state so expect bigger distances between free camps than in the smaller states. When the towns are over 100km apart you cannot expect the authorities to build and maintain them in between the towns. There are always plenty of places to pull over on the side of the road out west - we were out Miles way 2 weeks ago and there are quite a few GN's camped on the old highway which runs (in some parts) parallel to the new Warrego Highway. Naturally there are no facilities in these places and you will get noise from passing semis at night, but they are free and usually there will be a creek nearby or something interesting. Quite a bit of water in some of the creeks as well so could be a few yabbies and shrimps.
Good Luck.
We have always preferred to stay in Qld National Parks in leu of free camping. They are always neat and tidy and well looked after. I think the pittance they ask is very good value.
The pre booking/pre paid was bought into QLD NPs in June 2012 just before we went back up the Cape & it was a real pain, especially up there as hard to work out when you are going to be where.
